The Mark
by Lynnlee22
Summary: Cutter takes the plan into his own hands. Joey, Kelly, Cutter


"Don't do this," she screamed the desperation evident in her voice. Initially this had all been about money, 'the mark' as he called it, but at some point, it had changed. She hated the person she had become, but not knowing a way out of it was what she hated even more.

She banged on the door again and again hoping against hope that he was still there. "Cutter…Please! Let me out!"

Silence. As the tears fell from her eyes, she sank down with her back against the locked door. Aubrey was alone with nothing to do but imagine what Cutter was going to do next.

* * *

Patience had never been his strong suit. That's why he and Aubrey had always been such a good team. They got it, scored, and got it. She loved the thrill of it just as much as he did—or at least she used to…until she met him. Joey Buchanan was supposed to be their big score. BE was a goldmine and Joey was their ticket to paradise. Everything was going perfectly until Aubrey developed a conscience. He'd tried talking to her, keeping her on track, hell—he'd even tried threatening her, but nothing had worked. She couldn't be objective anymore. She had feelings for Joey and when feelings were involved—things got complicated. When things got complicated—things got messy. Cutter didn't have time for messy.

As he watched the traffic light change to green, he slowly accelerated. This was a new twist—a chance he didn't normally have to take, but Aubrey—she'd forced him into this. He reached over, flipping open the console just to be safe. There it sat—his security policy. Loaded and ready.

For a split second, he almost felt bad. Joey was so trusting, so willing to accept him as part of Aubrey's family—so eager to embrace every lie he'd dished out. It seemed almost too easy. Even tonight, he realized, he'd walk up to the door and knock, and without a second thought, Joey would invite him in…never once expecting what would come next. Poor guy—poor rich soon to be dead guy. He'd get rid of Joey first, he reasoned. Then, he'd pick up Aubrey, tell he the plan, they'd pay a visit to the hospital to see her ailing father-in-law and boom…in a matter of hours, Aubrey was looking at inheriting a small fortune.

The plan was fool proof. Nothing could go wrong.

* * *

Kelly started at the photo. Slamming it down on the table, she growled out loud. She'd promised herself not to get involved—to stay out of it. Joey wasn't going to listen..no matter what she said, no matter what she did…he loved Aubrey—he wasn't going to believe anything bad about her.

She reached over to look at the photo again. But how could he deny this? The photo clearly showed Cutter and Aubrey kissing—and certainly not in a familial way. Besides, she reasoned, how could he blame her for this? It was time stamped…and she wasn't even looking for it. She'd gone to the gym for information on an attempted robbery she was covering for the Banner. When she'd asked for the security footage, she'd never imagined she'd find this.

If she didn't tell him, and Aubrey hurt him, she'd never forgive herself. She'd spend the rest of her life wondering if she could have spared him. If he would have listened to her if she'd tried one more time. Taking a deep breath, she slipped the photo into her jacket pocket and headed out the door.

* * *

Joey glanced at the clock on the mantle as he stood and walked towards the door. Nigel had the night off. Aubrey wasn't home and Joey was getting worried—it was pretty late. Seeing Cutter at the door only added to that concern.

"Cutter," he said, opening the door quickly. "Is Aubrey okay?"

"I don't know….You tell me," he responded, his trademark grin immediately taking control of the situation. "Having trouble keeping track of your wife?"

Joey smiled. "No…I'm sure it's nothing. She's probably just out with Rama. She's not here either." He looked at Cutter who still stood—motionless at the door. "You wanna come in?"

"Sure." He eased his way past Joey and into the room. "So, you're all alone in this big house tonight?" Cutter said, another smile playing upon his lips.

"Yeah…it looks that way." Joey headed over towards the couch. "So, what brings you by at this hour? Were you looking for Aubrey?"

"Actually no," Cutter said, casually reaching into his jacket to check for his gun. "I came to see you. We need to talk."

* * *

"Is this about Aubrey?" Joey knew things had been a little tense between he and Aubrey recently…especially since she'd found out about the night he'd spent in the storage room with Kelly. Truthfully though, he didn't expect Cutter to be the person she'd turn to for advice. They just didn't seem to have that type of a relationship.

Cutter kept his hand inside his jacket. "In a manner of speaking, I suppose it does. Aubrey and I…well, we've been talking about this whole situation." He looked around the house continually impressed at the obvious wealth it illustrated.

"Look..Cutter. I get it. You're her brother and you want to make sure she's ok. I'd do the same thing. In fact, I've done the same thing, but what happens between me and Aubrey, it's between us…and I'd really like it if we could deal with it that way."

Cutter smiled. Little Joey was trying to stand up for himself. It was endearing in a pathetic kind of way. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out the gun, pointing it at Joey. "Sorry, Joseph…that's not the way this works."

Joey stood, putting his hands in front of himself in an attempt to placate him. "Cutter….what are you doing? What's going on?"

"I imagine this is all very confusing for you," Cutter said with a smile as he followed Joey's movement around the room with the gun. "How about you sit down right there and I'll explain it all to you?"

Joey moved to the chair and slowly sat down. His mind was reeling with questions. Aubrey had told him that her brother was the black sheep of the family, but this…this was a little extreme even for the most volatile outcasts.

The frantic rapping on the door caused Cutter to momentarily still. "Damn," he muttered, looking over at Joey. "Who is that?"

"I don't know," he admitted honestly. "They'll go away."

Cutter shook his head. "No…No…You need to answer. You're gonna go over to the door and tell them that this a bad time. I don't care what you do or what you say, but just know that I'm gonna be right behind you, with this gun pointed directly at you. If you so much as hint to whoever this is that anything is going on, I'll make sure it's the last thing you ever do."

Joey stood, slowly walking towards the door. He said a silent prayer. Whoever was at that door….they were in as much danger as he was.


End file.
